Affliction: Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia Fight Prediction
July 13, 2008
Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia
Sportsbook.com Odds (Fedor -450 / Sylvia +300)
Post Match Results: Fedor wins in first round after 36 seconds using a rear naked choke!
Prediction: Look for a boxing match early in this fight, with Fedor taking it to the ground in Round 2 once Tim tires out and finishing it quickly via arm-bar.
The main event of the evening is also a historic matchup, as former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko faces off with former multiple-time UFC Champion Tim Sylvia. Fedor, widely considered the #1 Heavyweight in the world over the last few years, has come under some scrutiny lately for his failure to fight a Top 10 competitor. Now, all of those criticisms are being put to rest as “The Last Emperor attempts to validate his #1 ranking once and for all.
Emelianenko’s (27-1) dominance of the Heavyweight division is the stuff of legend. His record has been marred only once, by a fluke cut from an illegal elbow that was, for whatever reason, ruled a loss. In reality, Fedor has essentially manhandled his way through a who’s who list of heavyweight greats with not so much as a speed-bump along the way. After handily defeating K-1 World Grand Prix champion Semmy Schilt and perennial contender Heath Herring, Fedor utterly dominated current UFC champ Noguiera, smashing him with vicious ground and pound for twenty minutes. What followed was a reign of terror, in which Fedor tore apart every contender to his title. Wins over Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Mark Hunt, Cro Cop and a second, equally dominating win over Noguiera cemented Fedor’s spot at the top of the Heavyweight ladder.
PRIDE’s closing, though, halted Emelianenko’s momentum, and he fought only twice last year, defeating middleweight Matt Lindland and the untested Hong Man Choi, neither of which helped silence the critics saying Fedor was ducking top competition. Clearly, regardless of who he faced last year, Fedor Emelianenko is as skilled and accomplished a fighter as there is in the Heavyweight division, and Tim Sylvia is going to be faced with a tough task come July 19.
This will hardly be the first time, though, that Tim Sylvia (24-4) has gone into a huge fight as a decided underdog. At UFC 41, Tim was widely expected to lose to then-champion Ricco Rodriguez. Defying all expectations, Sylvia dominated Rodriguez, knocking him out in just three minutes. After being submitted in under a minute by Andrei Arlovski, Tim entered two different rematches, each time as the underdog, and emerged victorious both times.
What really makes this fight so interesting, aside from the implications for the Heavyweight division, is that each fighter’s strengths play off his opponent’s weaknesses. Fedor’s biggest weakness is his tendency to get cut. His “loss” to Kohsaka was because of a cut on his forehead, and his second fight with Noguiera had to be stopped after an accidental headbutt split his head wide open yet again. Tim Sylvia’s long reach, punching power, and solid take-down defense make him a perfect candidate to exploit this weakness. If he can use his reach to keep Fedor at a distance, he has a good chance of using his sharp jab to open up Fedor’s head and put him in serious danger.Sylvia’s weakness, obviously, is his ground game. Any long-time UFC fan will never forget Frank Mir snapping Tim’s arm like a wishbone. Arlovski almost submitted Tim easily, and it took Noguiera about 15 seconds on the ground to make him tap.
If any fighter is capable of exploiting this weakness, it is Fedor, who has arguably the most impressive slate of submission victories in the division’s history. He submitted Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman, both of whom are light years ahead of Sylvia on the ground, with almost comical ease. If he can manage so much as one take-down against Sylvia, Fedor will win this fight easily, as the only thing more devastating than his submission game is his ground and pound.
Basically, this fight will be decided by how well Fedor can close the distance and take the action to the ground. If Tim can keep the fight standing like he did against Noguiera, there is no way Fedor can survive the same kind of beating that Noguiera had to take in order to secure a submission. In the end, though, I think that Fedor’s striking, while not on the same level as Tim’s, will at least be good enough to create openings to tie Sylvia up in the clinch and secure the takedown.
Like Silva vs Irvin I will be placing a bet for Sylvia in hopes of an upset and a big return as he does have a punchers chance also.
Look for a boxing match early in this fight, with Fedor taking it to the ground in Round 2 once Tim tires out and finishing it quickly via arm-bar.
Comments
17 Responses to “Affliction: Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia Fight Prediction”
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After reading this post, I’m disgusted with this writer and his assessment of Fedors Stand-up technique…don’t you dare compare Tim Sylvias stand up to Fedors…Tim has never hit a 400 pound man and knocked him to the ground…period. He is one of the hardest hitters in the sport. Shame on you people who don’t know jack. Pat you don’t know Jack.
HumilityDeadly
I agree with humility. Except ill write in a less douche-baggy way. Fedors standup game is by far, better than tim’s. While tims strikes may look better with proper technique, fedor somehow lands those wild haymakers and puts big guys to sleep.
Sylvia has a better jab, three times as many knockouts, superior reach, and crisper punches. Nowhere in Pat’s post did it say Fedor had bad standup, it just said Tim had an edge in that category. If you want to resort to hyperbole though, Tim Sylvia never got rocked wobble-legged by a professional wrestler like Fedor did. Me, James, Pat, and Humility all agree Fedor is the better fighter and will win the fight, so what exactly are you children whining about?
Oh and by the way, the reason Tim has never hit a 400 pound man and knocked him down is because 400 pound men cannot fight in the UFC. He did knock down a 360 pound Ricco Rodriguez though, and he’s about 400x the fighter Zuluzinho is.
Basically you agree with Pat’s pick, but are throwing a hissy fit because he doesn’t live in fantasy land where Fedor is better at every single thing than every other fighter in history. Calm down.
for fedor being so good, tim just knocked him out….
fedor is by above and beyond any fighter today. granted he did just beat a sylvia who went 1-2 in his last 3 fights, you cant take it away from him due to the fact that no one else will fight him. sylvia had nothing to lose, and those are the only people that will fight him. i’d throw fedor against anyone, griffin, jackson, silva and i doubt any of them would fight him.
fedor is the best
anderson silva? he would be like cro cop. he will run in circles just to get away from fedor’s submission and striking. don’t forget that fedor can box too and has KO power.
and for those doubting fedor, here’s the result: round 1- 36 secs fedor wins via rear naked choke.
Ummm that was quick, lol
That was really embarrassing for tim… specially when he cried at the end… shoot I would be too… all that talk and couldn’t handle Fedor for 1 minute.. Fedor came in early, close the distance, put one hand behind tim’s head to secure the distance, render tim’s long reach n jab useless… then went to work with powerful punches that brought tim to the ground! Figuring out that he is a bit wide for him so instead of wasting energy GnP, he went for the rear naked choke.. 36 seconds later…
LOL How you feel about betting on Tim now.
What a retarded bet.
Nobody here said they bet on Sylvia nor did Pat’s prediction have him winning
I agree with you “HumilityDeadly” people misjudged fedor coming into this fight, i believe mostly because first, theyve never been Pride fans, secondly, all they know is the last 3 years of UFC..so they are used to high publicity of fighters such as chuck liddel, tim sylvia, etc. fighters who have been the conversation for just a short while and thats all they know. Fools like this chump who made the prediction, take after so called AMERICAN critics who bash fedor when they said “fedor hasnt fought good competions in his last three fights” well what bout the other freaking fights hes fought? top competitors? excuses excuses…ive been a pride FC fan as long as i have been a UFC fan..witness of ufc fighters fighting in pride and getting their butts kicked and then coming back to ufc because they couldnt win..because the rules are too different, because thats not their fighting style..its easier to win in UFC. and im glad fedor is smart enuf to not let DANA WHITE controll him into fighting in the ufc..im glad he whooped TIm sylvias ass outside the ufc, or else he would have embarrased every NOOB ufc fan out there.
Apparently nobody here read the entire article. If any noticed, his predicitions try to look at the pros and cons of both fighters. To me, you all sound like a bunch of babies who have a strange obsession with Fedor. We all know he is a phenomenal fighter. If you look at the last line, Pat picks Fedor to win?????? He mentioned there’s no reason to put money on Fedor because he was such a huge favorite and the payout is not really worth it. He did say, it’s worth putting some extra money on Sylvia in the small chance he could win (stranger things have happened in MMA). So, until you read the entire article, please calm down because you are all starting to sound stupid. Not trying to be rude….
It took Couture 5 rounds (25 mins) to beat Sylvia. It took 36 seconds for Fedor !!! WOW !!
It is very difficult to catch Fedor, Nogueira couldn’t do it 3 times. Randy Couture might have a 5% chance if he can get him cut or maybe go thru 5 rounds of torturing(needs tremendous stamina from 32yo and a 46 yo) and get a decision like Rampage vs Griffin. Or the Russian Mafia suddenly kidnapped Fedor’s wife and daughter and threaten him to take a fall becas the odds is going to be high and there is money to be made??
Other than that, I think “The Natural” needs to be a bit supernatural and perform some sort of miracle for the victory.
Even if Fedor was victorious, I think some people would still deny him by saying the age difference and other excuses. Truth is, He is the best I have seen and people should look at the fighter not where he is from or whether he got some fat padding on him or not. The guy is so tough even other pro fighters attend his master class around Europe to learn MMA and Sambo. Thats commitment and love for the sport for yah. One more thing Fedor dominates his weight class in any organization he is in, so other HW will move weight class or go to other organization to get a championship belt on their waist. They know they got no chance of the belt if Fedor is there. Now he just signed with Affliction in the US and everyone wants to fight the best but after a while, you’ll see. THe Maniac got it bad and soon many HW fighters will feel the same like Tim Silvia. Shameful to lost 6 months of training in just 36 seconds.People say he needs to be tested?? Who would wanna go test it out?Perhaps You or Randy Couture or maybe Brock Lesnar, Kimbo?? Jake Obrien? Gonzaga? Werdum? or Current UFC HW champ Nog??Why dont UFC hold a fight btn Nogueira and Spider silva? and the winner will fight Fedor. I know put him in a cage with three big starving polar bears, maybe that will give Fedor a test. No one wants to be a loser and when you are in a winning streak you stay away from Fedor cas if you cross path with him you will end up in the loser section. Even Dana White Took back his words on Fedor. Some of you have the guts to say Affliction has nothin but a bunch off hasbeens, Rampage , Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Rodrigo Nogueira, Wandelei Silva and many fighters can be considered as has beens as well, issit, cas before they went to UFC they were at Pride, warring it out..Nuff said.
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